Nausea control in mild head trauma patients: Effectiveness of metoclopramide and ondansetron in the emergency department in a double-blind study

Mild head trauma often causes several complications and disabilities including nausea and vomiting in hospitalized people. The aim of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of metoclopramide and ondansetron, and compare it with placebo to control nausea in the patients with mild head trauma admitted to the emergency department.

This is a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial conducted on the patients with mild head trauma and normal brain CT scans who were admitted to the emergency department within 24 hours after the injury. The subjects were randomly divided into three groups of ondansetron (n= 41), metoclopramide (n= 44), and placebo (n= 39), and the severity of nausea and vomiting was assessed using the visual analogue scale (VAS).  

A total of 124 patients with mild head trauma were included in the study. The assessment of the VAS scores during the study showed that over time, the patients in all three groups had reduced nausea (p<0.01). On the other hand, the percentage change of the VAS score indicated that metoclopramide and ondansetron had the greatest changes (46.97% and 66.90%, respectively) within 15 and 30 minutes after the injection, respectively.

The results of the present study showed that ondansetron and metoclopramide had similar effects on nausea in the patients with mild head trauma. However, metoclopramide was most effective in 15 minutes and ondansetron in 30 minutes after the injection.